Former cop gets life term for killing girlfriend in Jamshedpur

JAMSHEDPUR: The court of the principal district and sessions judge in Jamshedpur, Anil Kumar Mishra, on Tuesday awarded life sentence to former assistant sub-inspector, Dharmendra Kumar Singh, in Varsha Patel murder case.
On February 23, the court convicted the 41-year-old ASI in the murder case of 32-year-old Varsha fixing Tuesday’s date to pronounce the quantum of punishment.
"The judgment of the court has reaffirmed our belief in the judiciary. The ASI not only killed my daughter, but also murdered the trust which a policeman enjoys from the people," said Varsha's mother, Laxmi Patel.
Varsha’s body was recovered from the edge of a pond near ISWP company in Telco on November 18, 2021, five days after her family lodged a missing complaint with Bistupur police. In the preliminary investigation, the call details and Whatsapp chats of the deceased suggested that Varsha and the ASI were in a relationship. Varsha's sister, Jaya, lodged a murder case against the ASI on learning from his neighbours that her sister was last seen with Dharmendra on November 12.
Varsha was a resident of South Park in Bistupur, while Dharmendra was living in a rented flat in Kharangajhar in Telco.
ASI is lodged in Gaghidih central jail
A fter the incident, the ASI had run off to his native town Buxar in Bihar. He was later nabbed by Jamshedpur police on November 21 from his home town.
He confessed his crime stating that he was in a live-in relationship with Varsha, but she was allegedly blackmailing him. He had also claimed that Varsha started having an affair with his driver, Jimmy, which he didn’t expect.
Dharmendra had banged Varsha's head against the wall and strangulated her to death in his flat on November 12. Subsequently, he wrapped her body in a polythene sheet and dumped it in the pond and left for his native town the next morning. The ASI, who was posted at the Sakchi police station, at the time of his arrest, is currently lodged in Gaghidih central jail.